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I had just bought some new pastels from France called Sennelier soft pastels which mark another era in technique and color expansion. Each brand of pastel gives certain effects and the Sennelier and the England Brand Unison pastels result in a glazing effect giving some transparency, leaving a dusting on the surface, showing hints of previous colors, underneath each stroke of pastel.
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CLOSE-UP of Oh My Mushi |
For many of my pet portraits done in pastel, I have chosen a type of sandpaper usually used for sanding wet metal and I buy it at the hardware store. You will recognize it as the black crushed diamond surface that also comes in several surface weights but only comes in one size 9”x11”. I use 600 – 400 weight which grabs more pastel layers than the traditional pastel papers. Another most interesting feature, the surface of the sandpaper has sparkly crushed diamonds, which give a real sparkle when the light hits the finished painting, catching the viewer’s eyes subtly.
Mushi’s portrait challenged me to try different techniques with my new soft pastels to create her most divine daily brushed fur that puffs like candy cotton. Firstly, I stroked down several colors that will be underneath the top layers to give interest and depth to the fur. Then I put down some shades closer to the actual fur color while lightly rubbing the top layer of pastel with a make-up sponge to soften the pastel edges to a blur.
Purrrr-fectly Meow, Minaz
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